At another point, Mr Barnett said Reid could be seen going into a corner "doing something with a packet" and saying to the room, "Do you want a pill?"

The court heard Reid had claimed he was so intoxicated he could not recall what the others were doing.

A friend, former policeman Joshua Smith, and Reid's wife, Wendy, told the court how he became "obnoxious, belligerent, aggressive and loud" when drunk and that once a particular "switch had flicked" he would often forget what he had done the night before.

Mr Barnett said Reid would ask them, "What did I do last night and who do I need to apologise to?"

The magistrate did not dispute the truthfulness of Mr Smith and Mrs Reid's evidence, but said he did not believe the 45-year-old had been so drunk that weekend that he forgot what happened.

Footage taken on one of the mornings after the evening drinking sessions shows Reid asking one of the other men, "How many of those f***ing pills did you ram down your throat?"